Debt consolidation any advice please

Paula1981

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Is all the debt in your name or is it split between you and your partner?

If the only income is benefits stop paying all the unsecured debt NOW.

You must concentrate on Mortgage/Rent, Council Tax and Utilities.

Unsecured debt is at the bottom of the list, nothing terrible is going to happen, you must just past vital basics.

Yes, all debt in my name, i am lucky to own outright. I have a LTD company so if i dont pay the loans, wont it affect my business?

Grumpelstiltskin

Is your company trading at the moment?  If so is it profitable?

sourcrates

Consolidation rarely works, for most people its usually just another step in the dance to a bankruptcy, an IVA or some other debt solution, and it normally boils down to the fact they don`t change their spending habits, so tend to end up running up those lines of credit again, and before they know it, they are back in worse debt than they were before.

It really is a classic tale that usually gets told in the New year, but ever more so nowadays at Christmas time too, a basic rule of thumb to work with, is if you find yourself struggling, and no amount of budget juggling will help, go straight to the debt solution, whether it be a debt management plan, or a more formal solution, please don`t even consider trying to borrow your way out of debt.

Because even if you can find someone to lend to you, it will be at a silly rate of interest, it will cost you a fortune, still all end in tears, and you will curse yourself forever and a day for being so stupid, so don`t put yourself through all that.......look at other options.

Merry Christmas 

Martico

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Is your company trading at the moment?  If so is it profitable?

I'd say this is kind of key. If it's not bringing in any income, then even without the debt repayments you may still struggle.

A consolidation loan would only kick the can down the road and risk you getting even further into debt.
It's probably worth you getting the SOA together so that you can see what a realistic budget is, and where you stand.

Paula1981

Martico said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Is your company trading at the moment?  If so is it profitable?

I'd say this is kind of key. If it's not bringing in any income, then even without the debt repayments you may still struggle.

A consolidation loan would only kick the can down the road and risk you getting even further into debt.
It's probably worth you getting the SOA together so that you can see what a realistic budget is, and where you stand.

We have been trading for 5 weeks. The business is paying for itself but alot of the credit cards were used for the refurb & stock. I never knew how expensive stocking bar was! 

[Deleted User]

Paula1981 said:

Martico said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Is your company trading at the moment?  If so is it profitable?

I'd say this is kind of key. If it's not bringing in any income, then even without the debt repayments you may still struggle.

A consolidation loan would only kick the can down the road and risk you getting even further into debt.
It's probably worth you getting the SOA together so that you can see what a realistic budget is, and where you stand.

We have been trading for 5 weeks. The business is paying for itself but alot of the credit cards were used for the refurb & stock. I never knew how expensive stocking bar was! 

It's the same for stocking any new business.
Now you wait to break-even, then you start to make a profit.
I've been self employed for a long time and i remember those days well - not particularly fondly either !

TheAble

I think you probably needed to be a lot better capitalised before taking on this business. But I do hope it works out well for you.

Grumpelstiltskin

I have never started a business myself probably because I would never stretch myself to the extent you have.

Presumably you think the business is viable but I don't think you have any chance of borrowing money from any genuine lender, so you have to make the decision whether to carry on or  pull the plug now before you get into an even worse position.

Sorry but what is the best thing to do?

kimwp

I think you should (wherever possible)  split out your company and personal finances. I know nothing about how to do this, but remember this advice being given on a finance show when someone was in personal debt but a lot of it was actually business debt which could have been written off with the business if they had set it up differently.

EssexHebridean

No to the consolidation loan - aside from anything else, right now, you have debt on 0% - why swap that out for debt charging interest? Remember - consolidating INCREASES your liability, sure, the monthly payments might go down, but if you're paying two thirds of the amount, but for twice as long, it's still costing you more.

There is a limit to any more advice that can be given without seeing an SOA - and bear in mind that it's all well and good saying "we never spend on anything non-essential" but that might not be the case - it's just you don't "see" the little incidental spends because they've become habit - that's something we see a lot. what you need to see is whether right now you can make ends meet - if not, then a different approach might be needed to the one that would be taken if you were just scraping by.

Also - double check whether there are any more benefits you can be claiming - particularly in light of your partner presumably still being unable to work full time?